Key Words

As part of the call for proposals submission process which enables us to upload the papers into our scientific database, please provide 3-5 keywords selected from the IPA Psychoanalytic Thesaurus below that best describe your submission.

The Thesaurus currently offers over 2000 terms listed alphabetically in one of six languages with its correspondent equivalent in the other five (Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish, Pin Yin).


Please enter your search criteria to view results
Guidelines: You only need to enter part of the word or phrase - not the whole word.


Why use a thesaurus of psychoanalytic terms?
A shared, standardised psychoanalytic term – a Thesaurus – is an essential tool for the cataloguing of scientific literature in a scientific data base. It enables the selective designation and recovery of information as well as offering the possibility of integrating psychoanalysis, at a world level, with other index languages used in data bases from related fields. The main aim is to amalgamate our scientific literature with other fields of knowledge and culture, without losing our identity.

Origins and goals:
We have adopted the thesaurus created by the Argentine Psychoanalytical Association, the only one of its kind in existence. Since 1984, this institution has been working consistently on this thesaurus, which represents, in a standardised form, concepts and ideas developed in psychoanalysis. It is widely used among all psychoanalytic institutions throughout all of Latin America.

This project received financial support from the IPA for the translation from Spanish to English.  The thesaurus will continue to be updated and expanded as the field evolves. We plan to add versions in all the official languages of the IPA.

Should you wish to comment or have terms to add please contact: [email protected] .